RallyNorth.net

BEVERLY | Fans at Hurd Stadium on an overcast, chilly Saturday afternoon in November got to see the future of Northeastern Conference football.

His name is Chris Beranger.

A junior halfback for the Winthrop High football team, Beranger had a career game here Saturday, scoring four touchdowns as the Vikings guaranteed themselves a winning season with a 34-21 triumph over the Panthers.

Taariq Allen scored on a 55-yard touchdown pass from Ian McKinley, and Marcel Hardmon added an 8-yard touchdown run in the second half, but it was too little, too late for the Magicians, who slipped to 3-5.

Joe McDermott scored two touchdowns and had 108 yards rushing as the Vikings handled the Falcons in the Northeastern Conference. Chris Beranger added two touchdowns and 60 yards rushing.

Danvers, which dropped to 0-8, got a strong game at defensvie tackle from senior Shean Hurley.

WINTHROP | Once again, Swampscott's defense came up big.

And once again, the Big Blue prevailed in a tight ballgame.

On a miserable, rainy night that caused the turf at Miller Field to be turned into a quagmire, visiting Swampscott dug down on the defensive side of the ball and gutted out a 14-12 victory over host Winthrop.

SALEM | The worst part, said Scott Connolly, was having to go into the locker room after the game and face his team.

"I don't know what I can say to make them feel any better. They played their hearts out | but didn't get the end result they wanted," said Salem High's head football coach, watching his players walk off the field dejectedly after a Winthrop field goal on the final play of the game sent his Witches to a 3-0 loss at Bertram Field last night.

The Salem-Winthrop football game tonight at Bertram Field has generated more than just mild interest at the Salem Five Cents Savings Bank branch on at 424 Essex St., in Salem. It so happens that the mothers of two impact running backs in tonight's contest between the host Witches and the visiting Vikings work together at the bank.

GLOUCESTER | Throughout the summer and the preseason, the Gloucester High School football team heard all the rumors that they would be the team to beat in the Northeastern Conference this fall.

The Fishermen had their first real chance to validate those rumors last night in front of a packed house at Gloucester's Newell Stadium in the season opener against two-time defending NEC champion Winthrop.